Flowers on Algernon's Grave
by OughtaKnowBetter
Summary: Mutant X copes with a mutant super-soldier, with a few surprises along the way. (Season two) Last chapters posted, and the story's complete.
1. Default Chapter

Set in the second season.

Disclaimer: all theirs, nothing mine, even though they don't have anything left. Aargh!

Flowers on Algernon's Grave

By OughtaKnowBetter

"Your theory certainly appears sound, Bea." But the words belied the doubt in Adam's tone. "What's going wrong?"

In appearance, the woman he spoke to exemplified all the characteristics of _too little, too late_. She was of moderate height, but the extra pounds spoke of too many hours working and too few exercising. Her hair was cut utilitarianly short, and the make up inexpertly applied suggested too little practice over the years. Her clothes, while comfortable and easy to work in, did nothing to enhance the view. Had she taken the time she would have been a handsome woman, but this was clearly someone with more important things on her mind: her eyes gleamed with intelligence—and need.

"It's the longevity factor, Adam," Bea replied, trying to keep the tiredness out of her voice. She allowed herself to slump against the back of the park bench, crossing her legs one over the other and spreading an arm across the long pressure-treated wood beam. Brown leaves, having given up their red and gold glory, drifted down to join the pile of detritus at the side of the path and a pigeon tottered along to examine the clumping for any tidbits to consume. "I push at one end and pull at the other, but nothing seems to affect it. Two weeks after treatment he's right back to square one. It's incredibly frustrating."

"After twenty years of trying, I should think so," Adam agreed. A lesser woman than the one in front of him, he judged, would have crumbled under the strain of the past two decades. Not Beatrice Sutter. A delicate breeze sauntered by, carrying the scent of something fragrant by his nose. Bea was clearly angling for help, and was going to use everything at her disposal to obtain it—even meager feminine wiles. Knowing what she was up against, Adam didn't blame her. "I assume you've tried modifying the linkages on the sixth chromosome?"

"Three times," Bea confirmed, "using three different techniques. It wasn't the answer. And neither was anything I tried that involved the fifteenth."

"Adding polychromosate to the mix didn't help?"

"I could have been pouring saline down his throat for all the good it did." It was hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "I need to find another way." And the one thing she hated to admit: "I need help, Adam."

The object of her endeavors looked up from where he was playing in the sand. He grinned, a guileless and trusting light in his puppy-dog brown eyes. "I'll help you, mommy."

"I know you will, Benji," Bea replied absently, not really hearing him, too wrapped up in her misery. She patted him on the head, and he went back to building his lop-sided sandcastle. The dirt was too dry; one side of the structure tumbled back onto the ground.

But Adam was revolted. Not by what sat in the sand in front of him, but by the lack of ethics that had caused the tragedy in the first place.

Benji had all the sweetness of a four year old, but his body had left that behind more than twenty years ago. Not content with merely growing to adulthood, Benji stood just shy of seven feet tall with close to three hundred pounds of muscle packed onto a solid bone structure. From a distance, Benji was a magnificent specimen. Close up, one could see the vagueness in his eyes that ensured that he would need an adult's supervision for the rest of his life.


	2. Algernon 2

"Super soldier," Shalimar repeated doubtfully. "Right."

"Genomex almost succeeded," Adam told her sternly. "Benji is an example of how close they came to reality. Think of it, Shalimar: Benji outweighs you three to one, is taller than you by more than eighteen inches, and is as quick as any feral. Tell me that he wouldn't be a formidable opponent to go up against."

"Right," Brennan grunted, comfortable on the lounger, leaning on one elbow. His lanky form was draped across the long fabric covered piece of furniture, the picture of a tiger at ease. "Everything except brains. All you have to do is walk behind him, and he'll never know where you went."

"Brennan," Emma reproved, "be nice. It wasn't his fault."

But Adam nodded ruefully. "I wouldn't put it that way, but Brennan's right and so is Emma. It's not Benji's fault that he was born that way, but as he is, he's useless to everyone. Genomex recognized that six months into the pregnancy and refused to continue the experiment, which is why Beatrice Sutter walked out. It was a great loss; Dr. Sutter is a brilliant geneticist."

"Wait a minute." Shalimar sat up straight. "Are you telling me that she simply walked away from Genomex? And they let her?"

Adam shrugged. "It wasn't quite that easy, even back then before Genomex had the power that they do today. She must have had help; she was seven months along by that time she disappeared, and rapid walking was not on the agenda." The corners of his mouth quirked up. "I've never had the nerve to ask her who the co-conspirators were, and by now it really doesn't matter."

"Who was the father?" Jesse wanted to know. "Maybe he was the one who helped."

Another shrug. "Another item shrouded in mystery," Adam admitted. "Anyway, Bea contacted me to ask for my help. She's been working for all of Benji's life to find a way to restore his mind, to give him the intelligence he should have had simply to lead as normal a life as possible. So far she hasn't had any luck."

"And she thinks that you have the answer?" Jesse asked. "Why would she think that? You work with mutants, not necessarily brain power."

Adam went into lecture mode. "Benji's own DNA is based on the mutant genome. It isn't clear to me if he's truly a mutant or not, but all the traditional methods she's tried haven't succeeded. She's been able to raise his intelligence to normal for a couple of weeks, then the effect dissipates and fades to his usual state of a four year old's level of intelligence."

Jesse caught on at once. "So Dr. Sutter is on the right track, but missing the key element to make it stick. She thinks you have that key?"

"Right. As I said, it's not clear if Benji is a mutant but the indicators suggest that using mutant proteins as a base for the serum that Dr. Sutter has developed may be the answer. So she looked me up."

Brennan scowled. "That's it? She just 'looked you up'? Adam, you don't exactly put out an ad in the yellow pages. How did she find you?"

Adam allowed a brief smile to ghost across his face. "A note here, a whisper there. You know that I still keep some connections to the scientific community, Brennan."

"Yeah, Brennan." Shalimar punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Don't be so paranoid."

Brennan glowered back. "Don't knock it. It's kept me alive."


	3. Algernon 3

Adam punched the data up onto the screen in his private lab at Sanctuary. Forty six pairs of chromosomes looked ready to wriggle away, despite being only photons representing reality. Beatrice Sutter peered at them, perched on her stool beside her fellow scientist. In the background a set of test tubes bubbled merrily away and another set of computers chuckled fussily to themselves, trying to solve yet one more genetic mystery. She smoothed back a lock of mousy brown hair. "That's the one. Look at fifteen. It's classic. That's the primary cause of the deficit."

"Sure, but look at twelve," Adam countered.

"Twelve! I never touched twelve. Twelve is completely normal, Adam."

"But do we want it to be? You've tried correcting things, Bea, but how about an end run by enhancing a normal chromosome? If it works, you can accomplish the same thing." He turned to Jesse who was seated in front of the computer banks, pretending that he understood more than one word in ten that the pair had uttered. "Jesse, pull up file EDel793 and put them side by side." A second set of chromosomes slithered up for a side by side comparison. "Bea, this is one of my team's genome. You can see that her fifteen looks a lot like Benji's, twisted and deformed. But you've met Emma; that girl is highly intelligent as well as gifted. Now look at twelve. Jess, pull out both twelves for me."

The two sets of chromosomes obediently took over the screen and enlarged. Beatrice Sutter leaned in to examine the display. "I see what you mean, Adam. The twelve in this chart is clearly deformed. But are you saying that this—"

"—is a compensatory mechanism. Yes, I am, Bea," Adam finished.

"But we can't just pick and chose which elements we're going to use, Adam." Hope flared in her eyes, even though her words tried to remain realistic. "There are some things we can't accomplish yet. Even if we were to use this sample, we wouldn't be able to eliminate the double X. We'd be giving Benji a whole new set of ailments to cope with."

One corner of Adam's mouth quirked upward. "We don't have to use Emma's DNA, Bea. We've got a few more to choose from. I asked Jesse to put up Emma's because I knew that she had some similar chromosomal abnormalities as Benji."

"We could choose from your entire data base?" Bea's eyes opened wide.

"Well, no, not the entire d-base. I don't see any reason to include those with a double X. As you correctly pointed out, that would give Benji more problems instead of less. In addition, I'll recommend that we eliminate those with average or less intelligence, to avoid muddying the data and the results."

"That rules out Brennan," Jesse quipped from his perch in front of the computer.

Adam ignored him. "That should still give us a number to work with. Most of the mutants I've known tend to be of higher intelligence—present company excepted," he added, grinning at the ceiling and watching out of the corner of his eye how Jesse would take the remark. The molecular stared at the computer screen, ignoring Adam, ears flaring red. Adam went on. "We'll narrow it down, you and I, and then see who we can approach. Not everyone will be open to participating in more research. Especially not when we approach with long needles for samples."

"Better not be me," was the murmured reply from the direction of the computer console. "I hate needles."


	4. Algernon 4

Benji was horrified. "He's hitting her! He's not supposed to do that! My mommy tells me never do that! He's hitting her! He's hitting a girl!"

"It's okay, Benji," Emma hastened to reassure him, craning her neck to speak upward to the seven foot tall man. They were all in the dojo, watching as Shalimar and Brennan worked out against the only ones who could give each other a real challenge.

"Brennan's not really hitting Shalimar, and Shalimar isn't really hitting him back. They're practicing. Like playing. Pretend," she added, trying to help him understand.

"Pretend?" Benji didn't seem convinced.

Emma could see why. She was used to their antics, but watching the feral jump from wall to wall and do a fine job of kicking Brennan in the head during her travels would widen more than a few eyes, let alone a pair belonging to a kid in a man's body. And Brennan was giving as good as he got: Shalimar mis-judged, and got slammed to the floor. It didn't bother her; before she jumped up she lashed one perfect leg out in a classic sweep and dumped Brennan to the mat beside her. She giggled, leaning back onto her elbows. "Had enough?"

"Nope," Brennan grinned. "I'm just getting warmed up."

Shalimar waved to Benji who was still standing beside Emma, awe-struck. "Want to try? I'll take it easy on you."

"Naw." Benji's attention suddenly was focused solely on his shoes.

"C'mon." Shalimar jumped to her feet and extended her hand. "It's fun. We don't really hurt each other. We pull our punches."

At Benji's puzzled look, Emma whispered in his ear, "Shalimar means that they don't hit hard. They're practicing, remember?"

"You can do it," Shalimar urged. "Come onto the mat. We'll take it slow, and I'll show you what to do."

But Benji still held back. "My mommy says I can't hit girls. I'll hurt them," he explained.

Shalimar looked over at her sparring partner. "That sounds like your cue, Brennan."

Brennan grunted, but softened it with a grin. "Chicken. Just 'cause he's taller than Mt. Everest…"

"So are you, Sparky, but you don't see me backing down."

Now Brennan laughed, pleased to be able to get a rise out of his team mate. He lumbered back to his feet and winked at Benji. "C'mon, buddy. Let me show you how it's done."

Benji edged toward him, wanting to participate but clearly afraid of violating his mother's edicts. Or worse—"You won't hurt me?"

"Nope," Brennan assured him. "We do this all the time, all of us. Even Adam joins in."

"My mommy doesn't."

"It's okay," Emma said, wondering what this man-child did every day. Bea Sutter didn't seem to have much time for him, working sixteen hours a day trying to find a cure. Who cared for him? "Your mother said for us to look after you while she works with Dr. Adam. You can play with Brennan, just like Shalimar did."

"All right." Benji finished squirming onto the exercise mat.

Brennan took the lead. "You take a position like this. Put your hands up in front of your face so that I can't hit you there. Turn your body sideways. That's it." He threw a sideways glance at Shalimar and Emma, who were watching with interest. "This kid's a natural. Look at his stance. Picture perfect."

"Look at his size," Shalimar murmured to Emma in response. "Adam was right; Genomex and the people funding them were definitely looking for a super-soldier. I guess we're just lucky that they didn't find the right formula. Think of how different the world would be with an army like that in the hands of a few."

"Benji's lucky as well," Emma agreed. "Think of living with that thought all of your life: being created to be a killer. I don't think I could stand it. But look at him: he's sparring with Brennan as if he's done nothing else for the last twenty years."

Shalimar's voice took on a harder edge. "He may not have. I'm watching those moves, Emma, and Benji looks as though he's had some training somewhere. There—that sequence. That's been taught. Emma, this kid knows how to fight. Where did he learn that?"

Which was something that Brennan had already found out. The elemental went in nothing flat from a teaching mode to an all out fun match. He reached out one long arm to find it blocked by an arm equally as long. He grinned. Sparring with the rest of the team was fun, but being evenly matched against a man closer to his own size and weight was better. The fact that Benji was even bigger than Brennan simply increased the exhilaration factor.

Brennan tried a spinning back kick to the head. Benji blocked it with his forearm and whirled around with his own kick. Brennan just barely ducked in time, the foot parting his hair. Before he could recover, Benji swept his feet out from under him and Brennan landed on his back side.

More fun. Brennan leaped back to his feet, only to be met with a devastating left hook. He staggered back. Benji advanced, aiming a follow up right that Brennan managed to block in time to keep his teeth from rattling around in his head. _Damn, but this kid is strong! And fast!_

"This is just for fun," Shalimar called out, warning in her voice. "Take it easy, Benji. Pull your punches."

If Benji heard, then he didn't understand. He kicked out at Brennan's head, and the elemental staggered back, wiping blood from his lip. "Hey, Benji! Ease up, man! This is just practice."

"Brennan?" Shalimar called out, clearly asking if her team mate wanted help to get Benji back under control.

Brennan didn't have time to answer. He ducked, then jumped back to avoid the follow up. This was getting serious. Another block, then another. He went into purely defensive mode. "Benji, snap out of it, man!" He didn't want to hurt the kid, but it was either that or get hurt himself. Neither option was acceptable. He looked for another.

Benji's expression was intent. He was no longer aware of the world around him. Everything was focused on the combatant in front of him, the opponent that was his target. His objective was clear. He struck.

Brennan's block was perfectly executed but inadequate to slow the sheer power of the attack, and he was hampered by his need to keep from hurting Benji. The force of Benji's blow sent him sailing into the unforgiving wall. He crashed; the girls could see him crumble.

"Brennan!" Emma exclaimed.

Shalimar scrambled onto the mat, terrified for Brennan. Benji wasn't finished. Someone had obviously drilled into his dim mind that his opponent should never be counted out until seen in his coffin, and Benji was on his way to do just that. He grabbed Brennan bodily, lifting him high over his head.

Shalimar attacked. She bounced off the wall and barreled into Benji's mid-section, causing him to whoof and double over, dropping the elemental. Brennan fell to the mat with all the grace of a sack of potatoes. Emma hastened to haul him out of the path of the remaining combatants.

Now it was Shalimar's turn. Shalimar was quick, but so was Benji. Gone was his insistence on 'not hurting girls'. The giant was no longer thinking, simply reacting. He blocked every blow that Shalimar launched, and landed several of his own with his substantially longer reach. There was no sanity in his eyes, just a burning desire to conquer his enemies. And Shalimar, like Brennan, was hindered by the need not to inflict any permanent damage.

Emma had had enough. "Benji!" she commanded. With a swift look she threw a mental whammy.

Benji's eyes rolled back in his head, and his knees sagged as though pole-axed. Shalimar tried to catch him, to slow his descent, and ended up half underneath the seven foot body.

She looked up at Emma from the mat, a sheepish expression crawling onto her face.

"That didn't go so well, did it?"


	5. Algernon 5

"At least he was civil about it," Shalimar offered tentatively. "I mean, he could have closed the door in our face _before_ hearing what we had to say." The apartment door still quivered from the force of being slammed shut, and another hallway light bulb had blown out in sympathy. Shalimar couldn't be disappointed at the lack of light: it helped to hide the flock of cockroaches that was scurrying for cover beneath the threadbare hall carpet.

"If I hadn't pulled my foot back it would have gotten pinched," Adam pointed out dryly.

"Bottom line, the answer was no, Terrence Davies is not open to assisting a fellow mutant by making a tissue donation. And as you said, Adam, this is a volunteer only project." Jesse put in his two cents. "Which means we get to move on to Perfect Gene Prospect No. Two." He made a small show of consulting his notepad. "It's not too far from here. Shall we hoof it, or take the car?"

"Hoof it," was Shalimar's immediate response, "or don't you remember how long it took to find this one parking spot? There a convention in town?"

Jesse changed the subject as they exited the decrepit apartment building and turned right. The sun beat down brightly on their backs and the air was surprisingly fresh for this time of year. Cars were jammed along both sides of the streets. The one lone empty parking spot was nabbed as they watched, a large sedan wedging its way into the barely adequate slot. People thronged past them, hurrying to get to where they were going before whatever self-imposed deadline arrived. "What if this mutant doesn't want to help out either?"

Adam avoided the question. "Would you? Think about it, Jesse. The early indications are that Benji will require some rather difficult to acquire body samples, which means our volunteer will need to come out of hiding to spend time recuperating from the procedure. Yes, he can stay with us at Sanctuary or Bea will offer him a stay at her country place while this is going on, and that spot is far enough out of the way to be safe, but it's a big commitment. Would you be willing to do that for a man you don't know?" he asked again.

Jesse shrugged. "He's still a fellow mutant, Adam, for all that he doesn't have any special gifts."

"Speed, agility, size—_oh_, yeah, he's a mutant," Shalimar disagreed.

"Whatever. The point is, like the rest of us, Benji was cheated out of a normal life. He deserves a chance," Jesse insisted.

"Well, let's hope that William F. McElroy is willing to give it to him." Adam opened the door, politely ushering the pair inside their destination.

This apartment complex was significantly more upscale than the previous one. The foyer was clean, the marble floor freshly swept. Even the three elevators sprang to attention when Shalimar pressed the call button.

William F. McElroy didn't live in the penthouse, but he did live one level down. He answered the door himself. "Yes?"

He took a second look. "Dr. Kane? Adam?"

"Hello, Bill. It's been a long time." Adam extended a hand, and McElroy took it automatically. "How have you been? Doing well for yourself, I see," he added, indicating the plush surroundings inside.

McElroy remember his manners, and invited them in, quickly getting over his initial shock at seeing the trio on his doorstep. The man seemed to have adjusted well to mundane life, Shalimar reflected. The three sat themselves on a comfortable sofa set on the center of an Oriental rug, Adam and Jesse at home in the luxurious surroundings but Shalimar just a trifle over-awed.

McElroy set a tray of drinks before them, not bothering to ask if they wanted any. Shalimar declined, but Adam sipped a cup of coffee, and raised it to his host. "You always did like good coffee, Bill."

"One of the few pleasures left to me, Adam," McElroy replied. He set his own cup down on the coffee table, Shalimar wincing as he didn't bother with a saucer. The water ring would join the others that dotted the expensive-looking wood table top. "You may as well get to the point. Every time I've seen you over the last five years, you've always wanted something from me. I hope it isn't money. I'm leaving everything to my daughter."

"No, not money, Bill. That's not a problem, thank goodness. I do need your help. Actually, it's a young mutant friend of mine, and of Bea Sutter. Remember her?"

"Bea? Of course I do. How is she?" McElroy's eyes lit up.

"Looking good, Bill, looking good." Adam paused. "She has a son."

McElroy lifted his eyebrows. "So, she kept the kid? She refused to abort? Obviously, or you wouldn't be bringing it up. What's the rest of the story? Is he everything Bea hoped he would be, or did he turn out like Genomex expected?"

Adam sighed. "Genomex was right on that one. The kid physically is what they were going for, but he has significant mental deficits. Yes, and that's why I'm here, Bill."

"I'm not a teacher, Adam, and certainly not a special ed teacher." Cautiously.

"Not what Bea and I are looking for. Bea has come up with a way to reverse the genetic damage her son suffered yet still maintain his excellent physical condition."

"And where do I come in?"

"You always did have a knack for coming straight to the point. It's a protein based therapy." Adam warmed to his subject, leaning back on the sofa and taking another sip of coffee. "We can create a serum based on a genetically similar but specifically altered DNA structure, inject it into Bea's son, and, if the theory holds true, boost the boy's intelligence quotient by fifty to one hundred IQ points. Translation: we take a sample of your cerebral proteins, modify it, give it to Benji, and he comes out with normal intelligence. If we're lucky."

"Lucky," McElroy echoed. The corners of his mouth turned down, and he sipped at his coffee once again to cover it. "So if you're not here after my money, you're after my blood. Is that it?"

"Something like that," Adam admitted. "And I'll be upfront with you, Bill; the sampling procedure isn't pleasant, and you'll need to recuperate for a day or so. But it's a chance to even the scales for one innocent kid. Interested?"

McElroy sighed. "Yes, but I can't help you."

"Can't, or won't?" Jesse asked pointedly.

McElroy favored the molecular with a tired eye. "Can't." He pulled back the sleeve over his arm, exposing an ugly round black lesion. "Know what this is?"

Adam identified it immediately. "Karposi's sarcoma." He tightened his lips. "I'm sorry, Bill. Is there anything I can do?"

McElroy shrugged again. "Keep an eye out for my daughter. I haven't seen any signs of anything yet—her mother was a normal—but she's only sixteen. Something still may blossom."

"Have you had her tested?"

"I haven't dared. You know what Genomex is like."

Adam nodded. "She's in hiding, then."

"Along with her mother. Katherine knows how to get hold of me. And you, too, Adam, should it come to that. I hope you don't mind." He snorted in defeat. "Of course you mind. You're no more secure than I am, and probably less. You must think I'm a fool to count on you, after all these years."

Adam shook his head. "No, I don't mind. I'm flattered, Bill. I just wish I could do more."


	6. Algernon 6

Once back outside, Shalimar stopped Adam with a gentle hand on his wrist. "Karposi's sarcoma?"

Adam looked grim. "AIDS, Shal. He's dying. His genetic sample is useless to us. If we tried to use any of his tissue samples, we'd be giving Benji AIDS as well."

Jesse was already moving on to the problem at hand. "Adam, I hate to break this to you, but you only had two names on your list of possibles. Which means we have no donor to ask. Do you want to go back and search the database again? Maybe you can come up with someone whose DNA isn't quite as close but will work for this particular treatment."

"I don't need to, Jesse. I'm way ahead of you." Adam started walking again. "You're right; with only two names for a 98 per cent match, it didn't look good. We were lucky to find Bill McElroy, and I never really expected Davies to give us even the time of day. So I've already broadened the search parameters to 95 per cent, and came up with the next set of potential volunteers." He pulled a second list out of his jacket pocket.

"Good. Where's the first one?"

Adam stopped one last time. "Standing right next to me, Jesse." He grinned. "Remember your little speech about how Benji deserves a chance at a normal life? Here's your chance to show that you meant what you said. Put up or shut up."


	7. Algernon 7

"He's waking up."

_And wishing that I weren't_. Brennan could sense the light outside of his eyelids, and decided on the spot not to look at it. The sledgehammer that was attempting to pound a ten inch spike through his head warned of dire consequences should he be so foolish as to check out his surroundings. If he waited long enough, surely someone would say something else to clue him in as to where he was. And how long it had been.

"Took him long enough." The voice was querulous, and male: Jesse. "Benji recovered from Emma's love pat in under two hours."

Okay, he'd been out cold for more than two hours. That explained the killer head-ache. _Waiting for more clues, guys_.

The next voice was Shalimar's. "I'll take over now, Emma. You've been here for four hours. Take a break."

_Four hours? He'd been unconscious for four hours?_

"I'm good." Emma resisted Shalimar's efforts to dislodge her from the stool next to the bio-bed where he lay. _Huh? Bio-bed?_ It started to come back to him: inviting Benji to spar, flying through the air, crunching against the wall. Emma's tiny hand was nestled around his larger one, waiting for him to return to consciousness. He swallowed hard, and begged his eyelids for a peek at whoever was emitting the scent of fresh spring.

The face in front of his was fuzzy, but the bright blonde hair could belong to none other than Shalimar. He waited patiently for the features to focus.

"Welcome back." Shalimar kept her voice soft, and Brennan was grateful. He'd had hangovers that were worse, but not many. He started to pick his head up—

—only to be seized by an agony worse than any he'd ever experienced before.

No, wait. He remembered this exact agony. It always occurred after getting his lights punched out. _Which is what had happened here, genius_. Cool hands gently eased him back to the bed and he swallowed hard, willing the nausea to recede before something even more unpleasant happened. He swallowed hard again.

"Idiot," Shalimar chided him tenderly. "Lie there and be grateful that nothing is broken besides your ego. You've been napping for almost twelve hours."

_Twelve hours?_ Brennan cringed, and did a quick internal check: the feral was right. Everything hurt, but it was a I've-been-through-a-whupping kind of hurt rather than a something-is-broken hurt. He cautiously opened his eyes again. Contrary to his first impression, the lights were actually turned low. Shalimar was at one side of the bio-bed, holding fiercely onto his hand as though she could pull him back to consciousness, and Emma was on the other with another bed to her far side. Brennan frowned. The second bed was occupied. "Jesse?"

"Right here, Brennan." The molecular's voice didn't have its usual embulliency but at least he was talking. But that didn't make sense to Brennan; Jesse hadn't been tussling with Benji. He'd been in the lab, working with Adam and Dr. Sutter. What was his team mate doing here in the other bio-bed? What had gone on in the last twelve hours?

Another shadow entered the room, and Brennan blinked, trying to persuade his aching brain to process more information. The shadow resolved into Adam, who smiled when he saw Brennan staring dazedly at him. "Ah. You're awake. Good."

"Not by choice," Brennan grumbled.

Adam grinned, shining a pencil flash into the elemental's eyes to check on his progress. "Don't worry. It'll be a temporary condition. Head-ache, I presume?"

"That's like saying Genomex is a nuisance. Ow. What was that, Adam?" Brennan asked, rubbing his arm where Adam had stabbed him with a needle.

"Pain-killer," Adam told him, depositing the used syringe into its receptacle. "Go back to sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up in the morning, and your concussion should be largely resolved." He moved on to his next patient. "Jesse?"

"I can get up, right?"

"Sure, if you want to fall flat on your face. Another three hours, Jesse, and the hole in your spinal cord will have sealed over. How's your head?"

"I could use some of Brennan's pain-killers," Jesse replied pointedly.

"You'll do better by taking a nap," Adam replied. "Heavy duty narcotics are out for now. Sorry."

"Right. That's what you said just before you jabbed the harpoon into my back."

"Wasn't me. It was Bea. And you volunteered, Jesse."

"Don't remind me," he groaned. "You could have told me about this part before I volunteered."

"I did. I said, 'Jesse, the sample that we need from you is cerebral spinal fluid. We get it by inserting a needle between your vertebrae and withdrawing the specimen. It would be incredibly painful if we didn't use a local anesthetic, and you have to lie flat on your back for six hours afterward to prevent a headache the size of Nebraska."

"Whereupon I ran away, screaming in fear."

"Guess I missed that part," Adam grinned, knowing that Jesse had done no such thing. "And you're lucky that Dr. Sutter performed the procedure. She's got a steadier hand than I do. You go back to sleep, Jesse, just like Brennan here, and you'll be up and around in the morning as if nothing happened." He turned to the ladies. "Emma, Shalimar, you don't need to stay here all night. They'll be fine."

Shalimar plopped herself onto the stool that Emma had just vacated. "So will I."

Adam sighed, and rolled his eyes.

Brennan chose that moment to snore.


	8. Algernon 8

Brennan crept into the lounge, Shalimar at his elbow, trying not to look as though he'd been the loser of a match between himself and a truck. He concentrated on breathing evenly, reasoning that if he were doing that he would be less likely to fall over onto his face. He almost made it to the divan when a shadow loomed over him.

"Hey, man, I'm really sorry about what happened. I didn't mean to bust you up."

It was an odd sensation, looking up at someone. Brennan was far more accustomed to being the person being looked up to. But Benji was taller than he was by a good six inches, and out-weighed him by more than fifty pounds of muscle. _Bigger they are, the harder they fall_, Brennan tried to console himself, failing utterly when he landed on the divan with a graceless flop.

"No sweat," he muttered, wincing at the sore muscles. Benji had seemed smaller before, hunching his shoulders and listening to his mommy.

"No, really," Ben insisted. "Listen, I owe you guys my life. Thanks to you and my mother, I can lead a normal life. I'm now beyond the thumb-sucking stage. Maybe it's twenty years late, but better late than never. I owe you."

Brennan stared at Ben. The man sounded normal. Well, not normal for him, but normal for the rest of the world.

Damn. Adam and Dr. Sutter's miracle came through, with a little help from the Kilmartin genes.


	9. Algernon 9

Six weeks later… 

They never noticed Adam sitting on the sidelines until he spoke. The older man had quietly taken his place on the bench lining the edge of the dojo, watching two of his team working out, throwing punch after kick after punch at each other.

It was poetry in motion. Brennan Mulwray had a gift for hand to hand combat, a beauty in motion so acute that Adam sometimes wondered if the mutant was actually part feral. Each movement was perfectly timed, perfectly placed, stopping just short of wreaking devastation on his opponent: pulling his punches.

Not that Jesse Kilmartin actually needed him to. The molecular was no slouch himself when it came to subduing his enemies and what his fists couldn't stop, turning to diamond-hard stone would. But Jesse wasn't using his gift today, and wasn't planning on it. In the present work out, as with previous ones, the goal was to improve, and that couldn't be done by cheating.

"Jesse."

That got through. The pair halted, Brennan pulling back the front snap kick that he was about to deliver. Brennan was the first to recognize the look on Adam's face. "Adam? What's wrong? Shalimar and Emma are out in the field—are they all right?"

"They're fine," Adam hastened to assure him. "I just heard from Emma. They're on their way back in, and the mutant has been successfully delivered to the underground. No, that's not it."

"Then what?" Jesse dropped to the bench beside Adam, wiping his face with a hand towel.

"Remember Benji? The New Mutant with the size of an ox and the brain of an ox as well?"

Brennan snorted. "How could we forget? The bruises have finally gone away but the memory hasn't. How is he? Did the memory boost that Jesse gave him work?"

"Yes and no," Adam started to say.

Brennan interrupted. "I hate it when he says that. Adam, the guy became someone who could walk and chew gum at the same time overnight. What's the problem?"

"Problem is, the gum chewing didn't last. Benji's back to where he was: the mind of a four year old. I don't need to tell you that Bea Sutter is pretty upset. We had a lot of hopes for this treatment."

Jesse sighed. "It's been, what, four weeks? Six? I thought that passing the two week mark meant that it had worked. What went wrong?"

Adam lifted his shoulders tiredly. "The data is still coming in. Apparently Benji did fine up until a few days or so. Then he woke up and couldn't remember how to brush his teeth, and it was all down hill from there. Dr. Sutter is crunching the data as we speak."

"So the effect is temporary," Brennan mused.

"For now. Remember, when Dr. Sutter used samples from normals, the effect lasted two weeks. With Jesse's contribution, we were able to double the time to four weeks, which suggests that we're on the right track. A little more time and experimentation, and we may hit on the right combination to make the intelligence upgrade permanent."

Jesse cringed. "Does this mean what I think it means? Another spinal tap, accompanied by a headache that would dim Manhattan?"

Adam smiled sympathetically. "You can always say no."


	10. Algernon 10

"Jesse looked bad this time," Brennan offered, one light hand on the steering wheel of the red Miata, guiding it down the open highway at a speed that would earn him a ticket in nothing flat if he were caught. "That spinal tap stuff is a real killer."

Shalimar agreed, her blonde hair blowing in the breeze of the open window. "Which is why you and I get the pleasure of driving up here with the serum." She jerked her thumb at the cooler in the back seat that kept the precious liquid cool and fresh. "Emma said that Adam intends to put some kind of a patch over the hole in Jesse's spinal cord, and that should fix the head-aches." She shook her head, and the ringlets bounced. "I hope so."

"And I hope that they've gotten it right this time. Putting Jesse through this kind of torture every month is not my idea of a permanent solution, even if it does help a fellow mutant. It's not Jesse's fault that Benji came out wrong."

"Yes, but you know our little Jesse: thinks the world ought to be fair, and willing to do what it takes to make it that way."

Brennan shot her an annoyed look. "Someone needs to protect him from himself."

"And that's what we're doing right now. Solve this problem, and Dr. Sutter won't be asking for any more samples."

"Why do I think it's never that easy?" Brennan indicated the maps. "Are we close to the turn off?"

"Right up ahead. Dr. Sutter said she lived on an old farm. Makes a great cover, she said, so that Genomex won't find her and Benji. There it is; turn left."

It was indeed an old farm that Dr. Sutter had acquired. The house was an old-fashioned two-story clapboard structure with some of the shingles falling off the roof. There was a barn, part of which was sectioned off to protect her car from the elements, but the rest sheltered a flock of chickens and a single cow. The cow lifted its head disinterestedly from munching grass in the pasture to mark their arrival. Brennan pulled in beside the barn. The Miata looked out of place next to the older building.

Benji came bounding out. "Hi, Brennan! Hi, Shalimar! Mommy said you'd be here soon!"

It was a pitiful sight. Brennan contrasted this child-man to the well-spoken adult who had left Sanctuary just one short month ago. Ben—not Benji—had been calm, polite, able to conduct conversations on several levels, and had both Shalimar and Emma drooling over him within a day or two of receiving the intelligence serum. This Benji looked up at the two New Mutants with a puppy-dog pleasure in his eyes at seeing the two grown-ups that he had had fun with a month previous. A good trick, making them feel looked up to, since Benji was still just shy of seven feet tall. But then, Benji had had lots of practice. Twenty years, to be exact.

Shalimar recovered first. "Where's your mommy?" she asked, taking Benji at his current level of abilities. "Is she inside?"

"Yup," Benji told her. "Can I hold your hand?" There was innocence in the request. Benji clearly was looking for adult guidance. But Brennan was uneasy. Maybe Benji had the mind of a four year old, but his body was that of a well-developed adult male, with all that entailed. Brennan almost resolved to keep an eye on his team mate, then stopped himself. If anyone could take care of herself, it was Shalimar.

Dr. Sutter came out, welcome on her face. "You have the serum?"

Well, almost welcome. Her eagerness overshadowed everything else. Brennan lifted the cooler out of the Miata and handed it over.

Dr. Sutter wasted no time. "I've got to move with this. You can sit for a bit in the kitchen, or head back to Adam; it's up to you. Joe, the man who looks after the farm for me, will take care of you. Come with me, Benji." She dashed into the house and hurried through the kitchen, her son in tow, leaving the pair behind.

Shalimar looked at Brennan. "Not even a thank you?"


	11. Algernon 11

On the dirt road leading away from Dr. Sutter's farm, Brennan pulled over. The little Miata sank absurdly low in the dusty rut, but that was all to the better. Brennan wanted to be hidden.

"I don't know about you, Shal, but there's something odd going on in that farmhouse. And I don't need Emma to tell me that they're working a major cover-up. This place may have been designed to stay under Genomex's radar, but that's not the whole story."

"You've got that right," Shalimar agreed. "Did you see that farmhand?"

"Yeah. He looked kind of fishy, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was."

"I could," Shalimar said grimly. "Lots of things. Like, no dirt under his fingernails. If he's been out in the field day after day, clean fingernails are a dream for retirement. And the calluses on his palms were from handling an AK-47."

Brennan was impressed, and said so. "Anything else, Sherlock?"

"You bet. He smelled of gunpowder. Not of growing things."

Brennan whistled. "So we have a fake farm. I don't blame Dr. Sutter for choosing this as a hideout, but she knows that she doesn't have to hide anything from us. She could have told us a little more about the set up she has here. We're on the same side."

"Or are we?" Shalimar asked. "She gave us the bum's rush out of there, couldn't wait to get Benji to her lab. Adam said that the serum would be good for another four hours as long as it stayed refrigerated. There was no reason for her to be that anxious. Or in that much of a hurry."

"Unless she was hiding something," Brennan agreed. "What say we take a look around the homestead?"

Shalimar bared her teeth in a parody of a grin. "Lead on."

For the feral, prowling through the corn field was pure heaven. She led the way, Brennan following in her tracks, barely disturbing the stalks. Even a covey of rabbits simply stared at them, not certain if running was the right thing to do from these odd humans. Shalimar took the long way around to the barn, cutting through the woods in order to approach from the back side. They crept up to the open window.

Some parts of the barn they had seen: the makeshift garage for the car, and the cow in the single occupied stall. It looked up at them with boredom in every ear twitch and went back to munching its hay.

But the back end of the barn, the part that was hidden from casual view, told a different story. Brennan was no country boy, but he was fairly certain that the cow wasn't interested in the exercise equipment and he had yet to see a chicken working out on a punching bag hanging from the rafters. A collection of edged weapons was locked up in a cabinet to one side, and a thoroughly modern bow and a quiver of arrows was stuck carelessly in the corner. And then they saw it: a crate filled with AK-47's, pried open and two or three bearing evidence of recent use. He raised his eyebrows at Shalimar.

The feral was just as puzzled as Brennan. She made a gesture: _let's call Adam_.

Brennan agreed. Things were too complicated.


	12. Algernon 12

"I can't believe this." Adam paced back and forth in front of them. Brennan was standing by the door, angry at the deception. Shalimar perched herself on a stool to keep from doing the same thing, and Emma kept Jesse company on the lounger. The molecular was recovered from the sampling process, but the lines that surrounded his eyes hadn't completely disappeared yet. Adam slammed his hand on the table in frustration. "There must be some explanation as to why Bea Sutter keeps all that fighting equipment on hand.."

"Love to hear it, Adam," Brennan challenged. "It sure explains how Benji got to be so good at sparring. You tend to get better if you do it every day, even when you have no brains to go along with it."

"Adam, I looked into the windows of the second story to the house," Shalimar added. "There were six bedrooms, some with two beds in them. Those weren't dust free guest bedrooms, either. They were in use. Dr. Sutter is keeping at least half a dozen men around the place, men that she went to some pains to hide from Brennan and I when we dropped off the serum. And that Joe that she introduced to us as the farmhand hadn't used a hoe in his life. Those calluses on his hands were from automatic rifles. AK-47's, to be exact. Just like the kind we found in the barn."

Adam looked away, lips clenched. "I can't believe this. This isn't Bea Sutter. The Bea I know walked away from Genomex in order to save the life of an unborn child. She sacrificed her career in order to raise him."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Brennan said dryly. "From where I stand, she still seems to be practicing a lot of genetic research. That doesn't sound like giving up a career to me. Or am I mistaken that the basis for the formula she's giving Benji was her work?"

Adam bypassed that. "I need to call her, find out what's going on." He punched in the connection that would send signals across the internet.

_Leave a message. We'll get back to you._


	13. Algernon 13

_Leave a message. We'll get back to you_.

"It's been two months, Bea. Where the hell have you been?"

Dr. Sutter had the grace to look ashamed across the connection. "I'm sorry, Adam, I really am. The serum worked wonderfully. You could see the intelligence in Benji's eyes, and he simply devoured all the education I could throw at him, faster than ever. By the time he fell asleep each night, book in hand, I was too worn out to do anything more than collapse in bed myself."

"Then the serum worked?"

"Well, yes and no."

"Yes and no?"

Bea Sutter sobered. "The formula is correct in many aspects. Benji's IQ was higher than it has ever been. Previous attempts have raised him to anywhere from dull normal to average intelligence. This time I measured him at close to genius level."

"You can't be certain of that, Bea. Those tests were designed for people with a more normal upbringing. There are certain cultural biases that can't be erased from the testing process. There's a degree of error."

"I allowed for that, Adam. And I'm telling you that within a statistical degree of probability, Benji now has an intelligence approaching yours."

Adam declined to be distracted by the oblique flattery. "And what about those men at your place, Bea? And the weapons?"

"What men?" She sounded genuinely puzzled. "You mean Joe? He's the farm hand. There's no way I could run this place by myself and do all the research, Adam. Besides, getting out into the fresh air was never a high point on my agenda."

"There were men there, Bea, at least half a dozen. My people saw the evidence. Who were they?"

"Men?" Bea tried to think. "Oh, you must mean the migrant workers that Joe hired for a few days. Were they there? That must have been it. Joe does it, and I don't pay any attention. Spending so much time with Benji, I haven't been able to do anything else. But listen, Adam; Benji needs more serum. It's wearing off again. The decline is slower this time, but the signs are there. That tweaking that you did was on the right track. Can you do more along those lines? This next batch might do the trick permanently."

Adam considered. He wasn't getting any answers. He came to decision. "I'd like to help, Bea, but under the circumstances I don't think I can. Not until you can come up with a satisfactory explanation for why you're keeping a crate of AK-47's at your place. I'm sorry."

"AK-47's?" Bea put horror in her voice. "Machine guns? At my place? Adam, you must be mistaken! I don't keep anything like that here. A shotgun or two for the coyotes, but nothing more."

"Don't lie to me, Bea. My people saw them, right there in your barn. That's not something they're likely to make a mistake about."

"They must have." Bea grew hard. "That's not something I allow around here. Remember, Adam, that up until two months ago I had a son here with the intelligence of a four year old. And four year olds sometimes get into things they shouldn't. Do you really think that I would keep something like that around here where Benji could hurt himself? I've spent my life trying to help him, Adam. And what were your people doing snooping around the barn anyway?"

"It's a good thing they did, since you don't seem to know what going on underneath your very nose." The answers Adam was getting were something less than satisfactory. "I'm sorry, Bea. Until I have a better understanding of what is happening at your place, I'm not going to be able to help you."

He could see the panic in her face. "Adam, you can't do that! Benji needs that serum! He—"

Adam cut her off. "I'm sorry, Bea."

"Then come out here and see for yourself!" She shouted that across the connection, trying to forestall Adam's severing the call. "See for yourself, Adam Kane! You come out here and bring Jesse with you. Once you're satisfied, we'll prepare the serum right here in my lab." She scrunched up her face, trying to prevent the tears that threatened to leak down her cheeks. She swallowed hard. "Please, Adam. If not for me, then do it for Benji. He doesn't deserve to be a moron, Adam. And only _you_ have the power to prevent that."

Adam hardened his heart. "I'm sorry, Bea. Those men at your place weren't farmhands, and they weren't migrant laborers. You have some major firepower at your place, and I'm finding it difficult to reconcile for someone as smart as you. You escaped from Genomex's clutches by noticing everything, Bea, and making use of it. You did the same working in the lab here at Sanctuary with me. You're right; Benji doesn't deserve what's happening to him. But like it or not, he was designed to be a super-soldier and I can't risk loosing someone like that on the world without being certain that enough safeguards are in place to prevent a world disaster."

"Adam—"

"I'm sorry, Bea." Adam cut the connection, to find his team had silently filed in behind him. They stood in an irregular row, regarding him with sympathy and understanding. Adam cocked his head. "What are you doing here?"

Shalimar elected herself spokesperson. "You did the right thing, Adam. None of us could trust Dr. Sutter's motives."

"I know it was hard for you," Emma added. "She wanted very desperately to help her son, and you wanted that, too. But she was hiding something. I could feel it all the time she was here."

Adam smiled wanly. He had a good team. They were behind him one hundred percent. "Thanks. No matter how you look at it, someone is getting hurt. And in this case it's an innocent man. Bea is right about one thing: Benji doesn't deserve to live like that."

"If there's one thing I've learned," Brennan put in, "it's that life isn't fair. You did the best you could, Adam. You and Jesse both."

"Just _loved_ getting needles shoved into my back," Jesse announced, lightening the mood. "_So_ sorry to hear that won't be happening again. Although I am sorry that Benji's gains won't be permanent," he added soberly. "I got to know Ben as an adult, and he was an okay guy."

Adam sighed. "Maybe Dr. Sutter will come up with an alternate solution. She's not the type to give up easily."

But he waited until the team filed out of the room before tapping in a few more messages to various contacts that Mutant X knew nothing about. And waited for the responses to trickle in.


	14. Algernon 14

"My turn," Jesse announced. "I haven't done a pick up in three months, Adam. Everyone else gets to leave Sanctuary and pick up stray New Mutants for transfer to the Underground. Everybody except me. I get to stay home and monitor the computers. The last time I left Sanctuary was three months ago when we went to go see Dr. Sutter and her son Benji."

"That's because nobody else can monitor the computers as well as you, Jesse," Adam told him. "Face it, that's where your talents lie. I use the computer as a tool, but it becomes a work of art in your hands."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Adam," Jesse said firmly. "I'm bored. You've found things for me to do inside Sanctuary for months, and I need some fresh air. I need sunshine, Adam."

"The pick up is at night."

"I need the light from a street lamp." Jesse quickly changed his tune. "I need time out in a night club, drinking up the sights."

"Drinking up the beer, more like it."

"Please! I have expensive tastes. Something with a little more potency is important, given how long I have gone without. A martini, for example. Or a Long Island Ice Tea." He offered his arm to Emma. "Care to join me for a night on the town? Pick up a mutant or two while we're at it?"

"Jesse, I need you here," Adam disagreed. "Look, I know you need some time off, but I've got some important experiments going on. I don't have time to monitor the computers while the team is doing the pick up and—"

"Adam, listen to me! I'm going crazy in here!"

"Better hear what he has to say, Adam," Brennan advised. "Last time in the dojo he nearly took my head off with excess energy. We need to get this boy out more often."

"Adam, it's been three months! Please!" Jesse pleaded, an edge in his voice.

Adam set his mouth into a line. "Just a little bit longer, Jesse. Just until I can do it. I promise, I'll get you out of Sanctuary. Just another week."

Jesse closed his eyes, fighting to keep control of his anger. He clenched his fists. Little ripples of mass flickered over his hands before he could make himself relax. Then, not trusting himself not to say anything more, not trusting himself, he walked out of the room.

Adam sighed again. "Would somebody go after him for me? Look, guys, I know that it's tough right now, but he has to understand that—"

"Adam, that's the same line that you fed him last week," Shalimar said gently. "And the week before that."

Even Brennan agreed with her. "Jesse's always the one who gets to stay behind to monitor the operation. Not that I mind, understand. I really appreciate having someone as talented as him watching my tail, and I especially like the fact that it's not me doing it. But I can see where he could go crazy watching the same four Sanctuary walls. How about a night out on the town, if you don't want him doing the pick up?"

"There's more than four walls in Sanctuary."

"Whatever. You know what I mean, Adam. He needs to get out as much as the rest of us. I know you can be perfectly happy staying in your lab twenty-four/seven, but Jesse isn't you, Adam." Brennan was trying to be reasonable. "Let him do a pick up for a change. I'll even volunteer to monitor the screens." Which was a generous offer, Adam knew. Brennan hated the job, and would do anything to get out of it including tricking Jesse into another stint.

But that wasn't the point, and Adam said so. "I need Jesse here. You three will have to convince him of that."

"No."

It was Emma. Adam stared at her.

"He needs to hear the truth, Adam," she said gently. "You owe him the truth. No more lies."

Adam looked away. "I haven't been lying. I do need him here."

"But not for the reasons that you've said. Jesse's not stupid, Adam," Emma added. "He can see through all the busywork that you've given him. He knows that your experiments aren't what's keeping him here. And _you_ know he always needs to prove to himself that he's just as good as everybody else. Right now he thinks that you don't trust him, that you're keeping him here because he can't hold up his end of the team. You need to be honest with him. With all of us, Adam. Why are you keeping Jesse locked up?"

"He's not locked up," Adam grumbled. Emma merely looked at him. The other two shared a bewildered expression, not certain what to think. "Oh, all right. You're right, all of you. I haven't wanted Jesse to leave Sanctuary so I've been coming up with reasons to keep him here, safe."

"Safe from what, Adam? Or who?"

"Beatrice Sutter," Adam responded bitterly. "You remember her?"

"How could we forget?" Shalimar said. "You told her not to come asking for any more help until she could explain why she had armed men at her place and had been teaching Benji how to fight. But it's been three months since we've heard from her…" Her voice trailed off, as understanding took place.

"Right." Adam nodded. "Now you see my dilemma. Bea and I worked side by side on the serum that could help her son Benji. She has all of my notes, and I have all of hers. We can do each other's work. The one missing piece, though, is the protein base to make the serum out of. The raw materials, if you will."

Emma grasped it instantly. "The spinal fluid sample from Jesse. That's why you won't let him leave Sanctuary. You're afraid that she might try to get at him."

Adam nodded. "The word to describe Bea Sutter is tenacious. She won't give up until she gets what she wants, and right now she desperately wants to cure her son. Three months is nothing to her. She won't quit. There's no doubt in my mind any longer that Shalimar and Brennan really did see a military training bunker in her barn aimed at teaching Benji the art of war. All Dr. Sutter needs is another sample of Jesse's mutant proteins and she may very well be able to effect a permanent cure. Benji will be a super soldier in reality, and the training facilities suggest that there's a backer that has a use for him. I can't keep Jesse here forever, but I can't afford to let Bea kidnap him."

"There's more," Emma accused.

Adam glared at her. "Stop reading my mind."

"Then stop broadcasting so loudly."

"I'm not—"

"Don't change the subject," Brennan insisted. "What else is there? Adam?"

This time Adam looked angry. "There's a similar route to a cure for Benji, this one with a better chance of success. It takes a lot of the same chemicals, the same laboratory techniques."

"So why didn't you try it?"

"It was too dangerous. I refused to even consider the option, even though Dr. Sutter pushed for it."

"Dangerous for who? Benji?"

Adam looked them straight in the eye. "No, for Jesse. It would require a sample of his brain tissue. Not just a spinal tap, which is safe if done properly. This would be a brain biopsy, as in 'bore a hole into his skull and scoop out some of the innards', leaving him with a very good chance of permanent brain damage if we aren't careful and he isn't lucky. Now you see why I haven't wanted Jesse outside of Sanctuary?"

But Emma's empathic powers were working. "Uh, oh."

"Uh, oh?"

"Elvis has left the building."


	15. Algernon 15

It wasn't the first time he had left Sanctuary in a huff but, Jesse thought bitterly, it might be the last. All that crap that Adam was handing him about needing him for computer work; a trained monkey could do ninety percent of it. Come to think of it, Jesse had trained Brennan to do the same thing. Point for Jesse's side of the argument.

So Adam thought that Jesse was a liability, not to be trusted in the field. The older man had made that abundantly clear. All the times that Jesse had come through, all the work that he'd done didn't count for much. It was the others that Adam wanted on his team: Shalimar, able to take down any three men without mussing her hair. Brennan, ole Sparky himself, for the electronics. And Emma with more power in her pinky than any of them. All Jesse had the ability to float through walls. Hah. Pretty lame, when you thought about it. No wonder Adam didn't want him where he could fall down and go boom.

He looked at the ring on his finger, that multi-tasking marvel of engineering that served as both a comm. link and a locator beacon whenever Adam felt the need. Right now the comm. link portion wasn't needed, and as for the locator? That, as far as Jesse was concerned, was a liability.

He pulled it off of his finger, tugging slightly when it resisted going over the joint. Once off, his finger looked bare and almost forlorn. The skin beneath was whiter than the surrounding flesh, evidence that he hadn't removed the band in a very long time. A little breeze meandering by tickled his finger—amazing how the moving molecules of air knew just where to go to tease at his heartstrings. The breeze hadn't touched any other part of him.

Jesse couldn't keep it with him, not if he expected to leave Mutant X behind. He stopped, jolted at his own thoughts. Did he really want to do that? It was the only family he'd known for years. Shalimar was literally the big sister he'd never had, looking out for him, helping him through the worst of teen-age angst when it seemed that he could never fit in. And Adam? Teacher, mentor, coach, and, yes, even father-figure.

The same man who didn't trust Jesse to blow his nose without supervision. That decided him. Jesse was out of here. He surveyed the ring ruefully, finally dropping it into a stamped envelope so that it wouldn't get lost. Maybe Adam could tune it to the next member of Mutant X that he'd recruit, someone that the scientist could trust a little more to look out for himself. He dropped it into the postal box on the corner, hearing it bang on the empty bottom of the container with a quiet ring of finality. Mutant X was gone from his life.

But that left Jesse at loose ends. What to do now? Seeing the world didn't excite him: _been there, done that_ while he was growing up. Maybe he'd just drift around the countryside for a while, deciding what he ought to do with himself. Maybe he'd look up Mutant X again after a couple of years, maybe a few months. Heck, maybe he only needed just a week of two of vacation.

Heck, maybe he didn't need to leave after all. Two drinks at the local bar, maybe a third at another, and he could saunter back to Sanctuary as if nothing happened. After all, it wasn't the first time one of them had gone off in a snit. Usually it was Brennan, or Shalimar, occasionally even Emma. But that didn't mean that Jesse Kilmartin wasn't entitled to do the same thing.

He couldn't go back without his ring, though. That would be embarrassing. Not a problem; all Jesse had to do was reach an insubstantial hand into the postal box and pull out the envelope with a lumpy circular area in it. He phased.

Something clamped around Jesse's head. A shooting pain arced from ear to ear, and his unphased arm snapped back to reality. His vision went dim, but he retained just enough sense to register four men suddenly surrounding him. They grabbed his arms just in time to keep him from collapsing to the ground, and remembered no more.


	16. Algernon 16

"He was here." Emma's voice was filled with fear. The night was pitch black around them, with the single street light barely able to keep them from tripping over the curb. Something winged flittered over their heads. Without the sunlight, the air had gone cold.

"Got that in one," Brennan grunted sarcastically, trying to cover his own concern. "We tracked his comm. link to this mailbox. Three guesses as to how it got in there."

"No, I mean Jesse was here, and afraid," Emma clarified. "Something happened to him."

"What?"

"I don't know." Emma cast around, feeling the postal box, trying for remnants of Jesse's emotions. "He was here. He was unhappy, feeling unwanted."

"He was never unwanted," Adam started to say angrily, but Emma waved him down.

"I didn't say that, Adam. But Jesse did feel unwanted and left out. Those were his feelings—ow!"

"Emma?"

"Pain! Jesse was attacked! Something—his head! My head! My head!" Emma clutched her temples. Brennan caught her before she could fall.

"Emma! Snap out of it! Break the link!" Adam commanded. "Emma!"

"I'm all right." But Emma kept her eyes closed a moment longer, allowing Brennan to support her. The tall elemental escorted her to a bench, easing her off of her feet.

Adam sat down beside her. "Emma, tell us what happened. What happened to Jesse?"

Emma stared at him, eyes wide. "They did something to his head, so that Jesse couldn't use his powers to get away. It hurt him, Adam. And then everything went black."

Adam moved on. "That means that whoever did this knew that Jesse is a mutant, which rules out the average mugger." He looked at them grimly. "Want to bet that it was Bea Sutter?"

"She found him quickly," was Shalimar's grim opinion. "You were right, Adam. Dr. Sutter was waiting for him to leave Sanctuary. She must have posted watchers."

"How are we going to find him?" Brennan wanted to know. "Without his ring, there's no way to track Jesse."

"Then we start at Dr. Sutter's last known address." Adam laughed without humor. "Any one for a ride in the country to a certain farmhouse?"


	17. Algernon 17

"It's still occupied." Shalimar slid in next to Brennan, close enough so that the other two could hear. All four were clustered in the bushes outside of Bea Sutter's farmhouse, keeping their heads down. Shalimar held her tongue until one of the supposed 'farmhands' had moved on by, never knowing that he was being watched. There wasn't much action in the cornfields, but the activity in the barn--men moving equipment here and there, loading the boxes into the trunks of several cars--showed that this was an operating facility. Vegetables, however, were not the goal. "At least twelve men besides Dr. Sutter and Benji. I saw both of them too, going about their business. And those twelve men know that we're coming. They're ready and waiting for a fight."

"Any sign of Jesse?"

"None. But there were a lot of areas that I couldn't get into. There's a whole basement, possibly even two levels, that is accessible only from inside. If he's anywhere, he's down there." Shalimar hunkered back on her haunches, her eyes going briefly feral. "We busting down the front door or the back?"

"I'd prefer something a little less obvious," Adam told her, craning his neck to peruse the territory. He ducked back—one of the supposed 'farmhands' ambled out of the barn and into the house, letting the screen door slam behind him. "Can we get in through one of the upstairs windows?"

"_I_ can." Shalimar suppressed a smirk. "_You'd_ have to climb a rose trellis. With thorns."

"Hm." Adam looked at the offending trellis. Intellectually he knew each thorn was less than a half inch long but from this distance he could have sworn that the thing was covered in six inch daggers. "Any other way?"

"Like I said, front door or back?" Then Shalimar suddenly cocked her head, all humor gone. "What was that?"

The others stayed rigidly silent, the better to allow the feral, with her sensitive hearing, to determine what it was—

"Fire in the hole!" Shalimar dove for the dirt. The others followed hastily.

Six small grenades landed in a rough circle around the four. The New Mutants covered their heads, expecting this moment to be their last one on Earth.

But the grenades exploded with a small pop, and a white gas sprayed up and out.

Shalimar was the fastest, and able to get the farthest away, but even she was no match for the drifting poison that enveloped the group. She swayed on her feet, commanding her legs to take one more step, just get a little farther away, just one step…


	18. Algernon 18

One by one the four awoke.

Brennan was the first, rolling over clutching his head in his hands in a desperate effort to either screw it back onto his neck or detach it all together and throw it away. Squeezing his eyes shut seemed the best option, and it seemed to work. What he hoped was a mere few seconds later but feared was an hour and a half, he re-opened his eyes and saw the others also stirring.

Their surroundings were not encouraging. That it was a prison cell was obvious: the steel bars that made up the walls were a dead give-away. But someone had also been doing their homework with regard to Mutant X: the floor was covered with two inches of water. It wasn't enough to drown in but it was sufficient to ensure that a thoroughly pissed-off elemental wouldn't be able to blast his way out without parboiling the rest of his team.

The others crawled to their feet, recognizing their peril as quickly as Brennan had. Adam saw one more thing: the cell next door. And its occupant inside.

"Jesse!" he exclaimed. "Are you all right?" And immediately regretted the question. If Jesse were all right, he—and they—wouldn't be in this mess.

Jesse's hands were handcuffed behind him. Normally that wouldn't be a problem for the molecular. He'd phase out of them, letting the metal links clank to the floor. The fact that he hadn't yet done so said that something was amiss.

That something was the wire mesh encircling the molecular's forehead. The majority of the contraption was thin wire, with two diamond shapes to either side of his temples. Even as the others watched, the diamonds dug themselves further into the flesh.

Jesse winced. "Hi, guys," he said, striving for nonchalant. "I see you were in the neighborhood."

"What is that thing on your head?" Shalimar demanded, terrified. "Get it off!"

"Love to."

"It's an early version of the Genomex sub-dermal governor," Adam said grimly. "Bea Sutter was working on the project many years ago, before she walked out. As you can see, there have been significant design changes over the years, but the principle is the same. Jesse, you have to get that thing off."

"Love to," Jesse repeated. "Love to pull this thing off no matter how much it hurts, phase you guys out of here, and teach these people a thing or two about messing with Mutant X."

"No, Jesse, I mean you really have to escape," Adam started to say when they were interrupted by Dr. Sutter and four other men.

"It's a little late for that, Dr. Kane," one of the men said, casting a thoughtful gaze over Jesse Kilmartin.

None of the others did, but Adam recognized him immediately.

"Brickman!" he exclaimed. "After all these years? I should have known that you had something to do with this."

"Actually, I had everything to do with this," Brickman boasted. Jesse took the time to study the man Adam was so concerned about. Everything about the man screamed average: average height, average build, average light brown hair, average features—everything except the eyes. Those hazel eyes were the eyes of a man driven by the need to succeed, the need to achieve his goal no matter what the cost to others. "This was my project, Adam. Mine, not yours, and not Mason Eckhart's."

"Eckhart fired you," Adam remembered. "Your project wasn't working. You were treading down the wrong path. And you pulled Bea in after you."

"I wasn't!" Brickman insisted. "You and Eckhart were jealous of me, so you sabotaged my work! I would have been successful, and Genomex would have belonged to me!"

"Your work cost Benji his mind and his mother her career," Adam shot back.

"No, Adam." Bea Sutter stepped in, her voice calm and collected—and brittle with emotion. "John saved Benji's life. Mason was insisting on an abortion. You know that."

"And I opposed it," Adam said. "I opposed the whole thing, Bea, from the start. You deliberately impregnated yourself in order to create a mutant super-soldier. When it looked like it was going bad, you chose to keep the child, knowing that you would have to cope with his disabilities for the rest of his life. It was a noble decision, Bea, and I supported you. Then you walked out."

"I _escaped_, Adam. There's a difference. Mason would never have let me leave." Bea Sutter looked away. "John helped. I couldn't have done it alone. And I couldn't let Benji down, not even then."

"And now?"

"A place like this requires funding, Adam. You know that." Bea gestured to the walls around them, meaning the laboratory beyond. "I had to continue my work. For Benji's sake."

"Our work," Brickman interjected.

Adam didn't see any point in holding back. "Bea's work, John. You always were a second rate researcher, and that will never change. You're still riding on someone's coat tails, and now it's Bea's. You're taking credit for her work." He changed his gaze to stare at Bea. "You're going to allow that, Bea? Let John Brickman get the rewards for your work?"

"I'm getting what I need from this, Adam." Bea refused to be moved. "It doesn't matter that John takes the credit. He's getting the funding by pretending that he's coming up with the research. I'm getting help for Benji."

"By harming someone else." Adam was getting frantic. There was no way out, and talking wasn't getting them anywhere. "Bea, what about your oath? You're going to be destroying Jesse!"

"But helping millions of others," Bea replied, as calm as Adam was frantic. "This work can move forward to help millions of children with mental retardation issues. Think of it, Adam! Advancing the cause of children in a single experiment!"

"Enough." Brickman cut off the debate. "We're wasting time." He gestured to the other three men. "Get him."

"Jesse, fight!" Adam yelled. "Don't let them take you!" He pulled at the steel bars, unable to budge them. Brennan too tried to find a way to get them out of their prison, but the bars were too strong.

Jesse tried. Arms tied behind him, he lashed out with an off-balance kick. It didn't work; one man absorbed the blow while the other two grabbed Jesse from each side. A couple taps to the mid-section finished the job and would have send the mutant to his knees had the men not held him up.

"Emma!" Adam commanded.

But Brickman was ready for that move. He had already fished a small atomizer from his pocket. It looked like a perfume bottle, but the contents were anything but pleasant: one squirt, and Emma sank quietly to the floor. The men hauled Jesse away, down the corridor from the two prison cells, and out through the door.

"Jesse!" Adam called, clutching at the steel bars, trying to part them through sheer need.

It didn't work.


	19. Algernon 19

Brennan kicked petulantly at the steel bars, splashing water from the shallow tray they all stood it. He felt wet, and cold, and miserable. And most of the misery was from knowing that Jesse was somewhere back behind that concrete door, undergoing a procedure that would leave Benji a super-soldier one man wrecking ball and Jesse a vegetable. Or worse. Wait—was there anything worse?

Emma had awoken earlier, screaming in borrowed agony. Her eyes were still red-rimmed, remembering and feeling what Jesse had just gone through. No one asked if their team mate had been sedated or simply passed out from the pain of what Dr. Sutter and Brickman were doing to him. None of them really wanted to know. Emma sat on the floor, heedless of the water that surrounded them, not caring when a tear slipped silently down her cheek to join the puddle that prevented Brennan from blasting them out of here. Shalimar squatted beside her, conserving her strength for when she would be able extract revenge on these foes. Even Benji with his super-soldier strength and agility would be no match for the feral on a rampage.

Brennan tried not to pace, tried not to think. He glanced at Adam; the man looked haggard, far older than his years. Brennan wondered what Adam was coming up with. An escape plan? A way to put Jesse back together again, once this was all over? For Brennan was certain that Adam wouldn't give up on the molecular.

_This whole thing is your fault, Adam_, he thought. _You didn't have to help Bea Sutter and her son. You didn't have to volunteer our Jesse. You knew that Jesse couldn't say no. Not our Jess._

Emma shot him a dark glare. It didn't take much to decipher: _don't blame Adam for wanting to help another mutant._

But Brennan wasn't in the mood to be forgiving. _Adam should have told us long ago. We could have done something. It shouldn't have come to this._

The silent argument was interrupted by noise at the concrete door. Emma and Shalimar scrambled to their feet, heedless of the water dripping from them. The door was opened from behind, and Dr. Sutter led Benji in, a syringe of clear liquid in her hand. Brickman trailed after the duo, clearly pleased.

Behind them, bringing up the rear, two of Brickman's men had an unconscious Jesse slung between them, dragging him forward so that Mutant X could get a good look. Jesse's head hung low, the temple swathed in white bandages. A splotch of red dampened one area, hinting of the damage beneath.

"Jesse!" Shalimar clung to the prison bars, desperate to fly to her little brother. There was no response.

"What have you done to him?" Adam asked harshly.

Bea Sutter wouldn't meet Adam's face. "This was for my son, Adam."

"You've exchanged one life for another," he accused. "Bea, of all the things you've done, of all the errors you've made, this is the one that I can't forgive. You have always had people's best interests at heart, Bea. You've made sacrifices in your own life for the good of others, for the good of your son. You've thrown that away, Bea."

Her voice was low. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Adam."

"Give Benji the serum." Brickman jumped in. "Give it to him right here. Let Adam watch my success. See Benji take his place in the world of mutants."

She flicked him a glance. "You're disgusting, John. Adam was right about you all along."

Brickman grabbed Sutter's arm, the one hold the syringe with a clear liquid inside. "Don't go getting squeamish on me now, Bea. You were eager enough to take the money I brought when you thought it would help your half-wit son. Now, all of a sudden, you don't like the price? Too bad, Bea. It's a done deal. Give Benji the injection and get it over with. You'll have a real son instead of this moron, and I'll have something to show Genomex. Mason Eckhart will be begging me to come work for him." He pulled at her arm. "Give it to him, Bea, or I will."

"Mommy?" Benji looked at the arguing pair, not understanding.

Sutter jerked her arm free. "Let go of me. I'll do it."

"Bea." Adam's voice was full of warning.

"I'm sorry, Adam. There's nothing more I can do. Except this." Gently extending Benji's arm, Sutter slid the needle home into the vein, ignoring Benji's little whimper of pain at the stick, slowly and carefully working the plunger to instill the serum into her son. She withdrew the needle, bending up the arm of her son to seal the tiny hole. Adam clutched the bars, unconsciously echoing Shalimar's own actions.

It began in seconds. Benji staggered back, clutching for the wall. Sutter and Brickman eased him to the bench behind, Benji looking at first one and then the other with innocent bewilderment. He shuddered. Then he whimpered, and his eyes rolled back. Sutter caressed her son's face, comforting him, knowing that she couldn't interfere with the process. Benji nestled his head against his mother's shoulder, waiting for the change to take place.

They could see it happen by degrees. First there was the slack-jawed looseness of unconsciousness, slowly to be replaced by tightened muscles firming the chin. The brow furrowed once, twice. The lines around the eyes took on a less wide innocence.

Ben finally opened his eyes, and the change was uncanny. He was no longer Benji, the trusting boy, but a man who had seen too much in twenty odd years. Ten minutes ago he hadn't understood what was happening. Now he did. "Mother?"

"Right here, Ben." Beatrice Sutter had been through this before. She had a new son again, one entirely different than the one she'd raised and cared for.

"I don't feel any different." Ben flexed his hand in front of his face, as if examining the fingers would help explain his new intelligence.

"You will when I get through with you," Shalimar hissed through the bars.

Ben looked up at her outburst, then guiltily over at Jesse. The molecular hadn't moved, was still hanging between the two musclemen, eyes closed and head down. Only the shallow rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was still alive. Ben understood instantly what had happened, a feat that he couldn't have managed twenty minutes ago. "Mother?"

"That's right, Ben." Sutter stayed calm. "Just as we've talked about."

Ben moved closer to the prison where Mutant X was, staying far enough away that none could reach out at him. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't bring Jesse back." Brennan wasn't going to let any of them get away with this. It wasn't Ben's fault, but he was part of them.

Brickman wouldn't let them wait. "Put the mutie into the cell and let's go. My partners are waiting for us. We'll settle with them, and then go see Eckhart."

"Don't do this, Bea," Adam pleaded. "You know what Eckhart is, even if Brickman can't understand. Don't do this. This is your son, Bea!"

"I know what I'm doing, Adam." She stopped the men who were about to drop Jesse to the floor of the second prison cell. "No. Put him in with his friends. He's close to death; let him die in their arms. He deserves at least that little comfort."

They looked at Brickman for permission.

"Do it!" Sutter snapped.

Brickman shrugged; _let her have her way. It's not important_. "Get back, all of you," he directed Mutant X. "Away from the door, or I'll dump your boy into the other cell," adding with a sneer, "at least there he'll be dry."

Grudgingly the four moved back. The water covering the floor sent little ripples around their ankles, lapping over their shoes. Brennan smoldered in barely contained rage, longing to fry the lot of them. Shalimar too pressed her fingers against the concrete wall to hold herself back. Emma looked eerily like Adam, eyes hooded, creating and discarding plans for escape—and more.

The two men were cautious. They'd been briefed about Mutant X, about their ability for lightning speed and fearless action. Brickman held up a tiny canister of the same gas he'd used before on Emma. She looked at him balefully. Brickman had used it once, and wouldn't hesitate to use it again. The two men dragged Jesse to the door of the prison cell and, shoving the unconscious man inside, quickly slammed the door shut with a clang.

Both Brennan and Shalimar leapt for the door, but they were too far away. Brickman held his spray bottle at the ready, but it wasn't needed. Brennan pounded at the steel bar in a fit of rage, Shalimar baring her teeth at them with eyes narrowed with hate.

Bea Sutter turned away, unable to watch the disillusionment on Adam's face, allowing Brickman to lead her and Ben out of the room, followed by their men. Mutant X was left alone in their cold and wet prison cell.

It was Adam who had caught up Jesse before he could land in the shallow water. Emma went to her knees beside them, a tear threatening to spill over. "Adam, I can't feel him at all!"

"He's alive. That's all I can determine for now." Adam felt sick with misery. "We have to get him out of here."

"We have to get all of us out of here," Brennan growled, slamming the bars again. They rang with the impact, and one even dented under protest. Brennan slammed it again. "Great. I can get us out in about ten years, when the water dries up."

"Three days," Adam corrected absently, trying to peer into Jesse's face.

"Huh?"

"Three days, Brennan. The water'll evaporate inside of three days and you can blast us out." Adam looked again at the molecular. Something didn't look right. Adam frowned. "Brennan, give me a hand. Hold Jesse for me. I want to see something."

"What's there to see?" Brennan asked bitterly, but did as he was told, shifting the man's weight to his own arms.

Adam began to unwind the bulky dressing that encircled Jesse's head. Every foot or so the gauze turned bright red as he removed the area over where blood had seeped through the bandage. In moments he had uncovered the metal wiring that had prevented Jesse from using his powers earlier. Adam tried to slide his fingers under the wiring, only to pull back with a curse as the thing zapped him in self-defense. Adam considered the problem. "Brennan, can you control yourself enough to short-circuit this?"

Brennan considered the problem, unhappy with his conclusion. "Not in this water. I'd end up short-circuiting Jesse along with it." He looked up at Adam. "Will that bring him back? I'll chance it if you want me to. Jesse wouldn't want to live like a pansy in a vegetable garden."

"No, no," Adam hastened to say. "No, I just think there's more to this story than we've been told." He set his jaw. "I'll just have to pull it off."

"Wait a minute." Brennan held the older man off. "Adam, I can absorb the electrical current that it puts out. I won't be able to short-circuit it, but I can pull it off without letting either one of us get hurt too badly." _I hope_, he added silently.

"If he even feels it," Shalimar murmured, the corners of her mouth down.

"Do it," Adam directed. He spared a glance for the feral. "And hurry. Shalimar's right; I don't think that Jesse will feel it right now, but that won't last forever."

"It won't?" Brennan's face lit up with hope. Adam sounded like he knew something that the others didn't. Brennan shifted the limp body in his arms so that he could get a better grasp of the wire contraption, Shalimar and Emma slipping in beside him to help stabilize. Brennan slid his fingers under the wire, feeling it tighten against the intrusion. Little currents attacked him, trying to persuade him to leave well enough alone, but Brennan simply opened himself to the current and absorbed the energy into himself. One finger held, then the other, and then Brennan had enough leverage to lift the contraption away from his team mate. It dangled in the air from his hand, hissing and spitting almost like something alive. With a twist, Brennan disrupted the circuit and the thing did an electrical equivalent of expiration.

Jesse sighed and shuddered, the relief of the device felt even through unconsciousness. Adam pocketed the device. "I'll keep this for study. It may yield some useful clues." He then turned his attention back to the molecular. "Hold him. I want to finish taking off this bandage around his head."

"You suspect something." It was not a question from Emma.

"I do. Ah!" The dressing fell away. Adam let it drop to the watery floor. "I was right."

"Good. What does that mean?"

"It means that Bea is on our side." Adam chuckled. "It also means that Brickman is as big an idiot as I thought. He didn't lift a hand to obtain the sample, and Bea took advantage of that."

Shalimar looked puzzled, and spoke for all of them. "Care to explain that, Adam?"

Adam permitted himself a small grin, relief in every line. "I should have seen it sooner. Look at where the incision is."

They did. It was a small, inch-long line just below the scalp at the back of Jesse's neck, neatly sutured but covered with dark blood that had been allowed to seep out to stain the discarded bandage. Even now with the clot disturbed, additional drops of blood were edging their way from beneath the skin, seeking to form another barrier to infection, encasing the sutures in a bloody seal.

"And this means—?"

Adam took pity on mere mortals. "In order to upgrade the serum, Dr. Sutter needed a brain sample that contained tissue from the higher brain functions." He tapped his forehead. "The higher functions like thought and emotion live up here. Instead, we have an incision almost at the back of the neck, where the brain stem is. And the brain stem just happens to regulate the autonomic functions like breathing, telling the heart to beat…"

Emma caught on first. "You mean, she deliberately took a sample from a spot that wouldn't harm Jesse's mind."

"Not quite. I mean, she deliberately made an incision in a place where I would know that she didn't take a sample, because any sample from that area—from the brain stem—wouldn't do Benji any good."

"But the serum worked." Brennan was still bewildered.

"Exactly. Turn Jesse over." Adam pulled up the unconscious molecular's shirt to expose the broad back. "Just as I thought. Here."

'Here' was a small bandage, located almost mid-center of Jesse's back. All three mutants caught on at once.

"She did another spinal tap," Brennan stated.

Adam confirmed it. "The original version of the serum was what she injected into Benji. After the spinal tap Bea sedated Jesse to the point of unconsciousness to give the appearance of brain damage. And, because the serum works on at least a temporary basis, Brickman saw what he wanted to see: an intelligent Benji." Adam grinned in relief. "Jesse's going to be just fine." Then he frowned. "But not for a while. He should have been flat on his back for six hours, to prevent the leakage of more cerebral spinal fluid. He's going to have a blinding headache for days."

"I can live with that," Brennan grinned, and corrected himself. "_Jesse_ can live with that. He's all right!"

Adam moved on. "But we're not, and neither is Bea and Ben. As soon as Brickman finds out he's been conned, he'll take action. Bea knows that she needs to escape before they get to Genomex. Eckhart will never let them go. Neither one of them."

"Which means we still have to get out of here." Shalimar summed up their situation. "Did Dr. Sutter have a plan for that? A key in Jesse's pocket, perhaps, to this jail cell?"

"Can you keep it down?" asked a peevish voice. "I've got a hangover that rivals Mt. Rushmore, and didn't even have the fun of drinking the night before."

"Jesse!" Shalimar exclaimed, hushing her voice after one syllable as her team mate winced. "You're awake!"

"Not by choice," Jesse muttered, keeping his eyes closed. "Is general anesthesia an option?"

"Not yet, Jesse," Adam said as quietly as he could. "We're looking around for the escape hatch. You up to phasing us out of here?"

"Give me drugs, and I'll consider it. But only if you keep your voice down."

"My voice is down, and all the drugs are outside the prison bars." Adam couldn't help the smile. Even in this state, Jesse had the power to make him laugh. "However, we do have Emma."

To his credit, Jesse sobered. They could see the change come over his face even with his eyes tightly closed. "Don't let her do it, Adam. I wouldn't wish this headache on Mason Eckhart."

Emma took his hand into hers. "It's okay, Jesse. Let me in. I'll help you." Eyes hooded, she took on a faraway gaze. The lines in Jesse's face smoothed out, and his breathing evened.

"Move him to the wall," Adam ordered, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to disturb the telempath. "Guys, I don't think he's going to be able to hold this for very long, so Brennan, you be prepared to dive out as soon as he phases. Everybody ready? Emma, give him the nudge."

_They were floating among the clouds, bodies as light and as airy as the mist they were in. Jesse felt at peace with the world in a way that he hadn't for a long time; no walls around him, closing him in. No needles poking at him, no headache pounding at him, no fear that this time, or maybe the next, might be the time that Genomex won instead of the good guys. No worries that Adam thought he couldn't measure up to the others. He could barely see Emma next to him, and it was just too much trouble to turn his head to watch her closely. Taking a nap sounded like the best thing right now._

_"Phase, Jesse. You can do it."_

_Why? Why phase a cloud? It was already insubstantial. And it seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort._

_"Hurry, Jesse. Phase."_

_Now Emma sounded like Brennan, always impatient. Always pushing to do things his way. Brennan's ideas. Brennan's way. Who put you in charge, Brennan?_

_"Phase, Jesse. Phase."_

_Heavy sigh. In her own way, Emma could be as persistent as any of them, sometimes more. Might as well get it over with. Then he could go back to sleep._

"Yow!" Brennan shoulder-rolled back to his feet. "That was close." He took a second look, and blanched. "Uh, Jesse? You left my shoes in the bars. Can I have 'em back?" He wiggled suddenly bare feet, carefully not watching Shalimar's nose wrinkle up.

"Huh?" Jesse tried to pick up his head to look. He failed miserably, and Emma tightened her hold on his mind. He settled back into her arms with a tired sigh.

Adam's smile was a little lop-sided. "I'm going to suggest going barefooted for a while, Brennan. Jesse's taking a little nap right now."

Brennan twisted a few million electrons between his fingers. "Stand back. Let's see if he can sleep through this."

"Is that a challenge, Brennan?" Emma lifted her eyebrows.

"Take it any way you'd like it. Just stand back."

"A challenge," Emma decided. "Do your worst." She concentrated, brows furrowed. The others could almost see the lines of psychic force surrounding the pair.

The snappings in Brennan's hands crackled more strongly. Shalimar and Adam turned away, protecting themselves as best they could against the far walls, sheltering the other two.

Brennan hurled a lightning bolt at the dry concrete floor just in front of the prison bars. Dry as a bone, there was no danger of electrocution, but the floor exploded with enough force to rock the farmhouse above. Dust flew. Shalimar and Adam hunched lower to shelter the pair below from the concrete shrapnel.

Slowly the dust settled onto the water that covered the prison floor, turning it into a watery mud film. Some of the water trickled out into the hole that Brennan had blasted, soaking into the ground below. Brennan had no time for that. Setting his unshod feet, he grabbed onto one of the steel bars that he had just passed through and yanked. The bar gave, protesting.

Adam and Shalimar helped him twist enough bars out of the way that the rest of them could escape, pulling Jesse through with barely a groan from the man held unconscious by the telempath. The others could see the strain on Emma's face, coping with Jesse's pain.

Then she looked up. "Guys, Ben and Dr. Sutter are in trouble!"

No one asked how she knew. Adam took the molecular from Emma. "Go."


	20. Algernon 20

"Don't worry, mother," Ben was saying. Shalimar, Brennan, and Emma had crept up on the scene. The group was outside the barn, the barn doors wide with the three sedans inside warmed up and ready to go. Brickman and his men were ready to depart the farmhouse for good, three of the men trying to put the last of the suitcases into the trunk of each car and having trouble finding room amidst all the other paraphernalia that Brickman had insisted on recovering.

But two others held Bea Sutter with a knife to her throat. It was low tech, but effective. The rest were menacing Ben, forcing the super-soldier into compliance with a combination of guns and threats to his mother. Brickman faced the young man.

"Don't try anything, Benji," he was saying as the trio crept up. "Your mother is valuable to me, but I can do without her. I am a perfectly capable researcher myself. Put your hands behind your back, and Bart over there will put the handcuffs on. You do that, and I'll take the knife away from your mother."

"Don't do it, Ben." Bea Sutter's voice was low and calm. Only Emma could truly know the iron-clad control the scientist had to say that to her son. "Don't worry about me. He won't hurt me."

"Yes, I will, Benji," Brickman contradicted. "It's you that's important here. Showing you to my backers and then to Genomex will be the highlight of my career. I'll take my place among the Nobel prize winners of this century."

"You won't enjoy it if it's posthumous." Ben delivered his threat as coolly as his mother. "If you harm her, none of you will leave this place alive. And don't think that I can't do it." He flicked his eyes casually around the group. It was twelve to one, but only one or two of Brickman's men looked satisfied with the odds.

Brennan started to get up, to provide more support for the home team, but Shalimar pulled him back down. She pointed.

Three more cars trundled up along the dirt road that lead to the farm, carrying dust and soil along with them. One rubbed its suspension along the ground as a tire descended into a dirt rut, jolting the passengers. These were city cars, and the men who got out were city boys in suits. So was the woman who got out last, brushing off her black blazer and straightening her skirt. Long black hair cascaded down her back.

She glanced inside the car, then back at the people in front of her. "Which of you is Brickman?"

Brickman stepped forward. "I'm Dr. Brickman." Emphasizing his title.

She ignored his importance. "Which one is the mutant?"

"I've completed the serum that will correct the intellectual deficiency to the super-soldier mutant," Brickman said. "I have all my notes right here," and he patted the attaché case by his side, "and I'm ready to go."

The woman tightened her lips and repeated, "Which one is the mutant?" She flicked her eyes over the group and settled on Ben as the likely candidate. "You. Get in the car."

Ben stayed just as cool. "What are you offering?"

"That was not an offer. That was a directive. From Mr. Eckhart."

Ben didn't move. The whole tableau seemed frozen, waiting for someone to make the first move. Even the man holding the knife to Bea Sutter's throat was transfixed.

The woman broke the moment by sighing. "Have it your way." With a sudden gesture, she flung a bolt of light straight at Ben. It barreled him over, flinging him against the side of the barn.

That was Mutant X's cue to get involved. Brennan jumped up, twisting electricity between his fingers, and flung his own missile straight at the woman. She may have been the smallest combatant there, but she was the most dangerous. Astonished at the attack from an unexpected venue, she cartwheeled away, coming back to hurl another bolt of light.

Shalimar couldn't sit still. She bounced off of the broad side of the barn and onto the heads of two of Brickman's men, then ricocheted off of the man holding the knife to Sutter's throat. He staggered back. Sutter squealed as a thin line of blood appeared across her neck. A handkerchief came out, and she dabbed at the clotting liquid.

That galvanized Ben into action. He sprang to his feet, lashing out at the oncoming attackers. They were men hired to train Ben in the martial arts, but with his newfound intelligence, Ben schooled them. One flew into the barn and lay still. The next ended up hanging from a post. The third, the one who had been holding a knife to Ben's mother's throat, took one careful look—and ran.

Emma went for the woman from the car. She aimed a telempathic bolt at her, and the long-haired woman staggered back. But she recovered quickly, and prepared her own retort. A barked command from inside the car stopped her, and Emma caught a quick peek of a shaggy white-haired man inside: Mason Eckhart. The woman hustled inside, scowling at not being permitted to finish the fight, and the car backed itself out and roared away.

That took the fight out of all the rest. Prudently, they took to their heels, running down the road after the car, coughing at all the dust kicked up by racing tires.

All but Brickman. He backed away, attaché case clutched to his chest, stepping back until the barn prevented him from going any further. Bea Sutter advanced on him, fire in her eye, a drop of blood still trickling from the thin red line etched across her throat.

"Bea, wait!" Brickman cried. "I was doing this all for Benji! This was to help him!"

Bea Sutter wasn't fooled for an instant. "You bastard!" she snarled, and decked him.

Dr. Brickman rolled his eyes back into his head, and slid slowly down the barn door.


	21. Algernon 21: Epilogue

Jesse leaned against the doorframe of the computer room in Sanctuary, closing his eyes against the merry-go-round inside his head, hoping no one would notice.

Didn't work.

"Idiot," came Brennan's cheerful voice, followed by a strong arm taking him under the shoulder. "Didn't Adam tell you to take it easy for the next few days?"

"I am," Jesse lied, swallowing hard, wishing the rest of him didn't feel like he'd phased into a two ton dead weight. Brennan didn't seem to notice, securing his hold on the molecular.

Ben too sprang into action, shoring up the other side. "Hey, man, I'm really sorry that I got you into this," he offered. Like Brennan, Ben was too tall to effectively shoulder the molecular but he took Jesse's other arm to escort him to where he could sit down. The pair placed the mutant onto the lounge chair and ignored the fact that Jesse's knees buckled underneath him on the way down.

"No sweat," Jesse lied. Was that a cold sweat breaking out? Staying right here in this chair for the next year or so sounded really attractive.

"No, really, man," Ben insisted. "Without you I'd still be an overgrown four year old."

"Still could happen." Jesse resisted the urge to shake his head. Something seemed likely to fall out, something that he wouldn't do well without. "The serum isn't perfect."

"No, but Dr. Sutter and I think that it may have done the trick." Adam advanced into the room. He took one look at Jesse and clucked. "Brennan's right. You are an idiot. Why aren't you in bed where I put you?" He turned to Ben. "The additional sample that we took from Jesse yesterday was enough to concentrate the serum to the proper levels. We could be wrong, but the preliminary tests look promising. I don't think you'll have to worry about the effect going away. You should have this intelligence for the rest of your life."

Ben closed his eyes. "You don't know how good it feels to hear that." He opened them, suddenly scared, looking for reassurance. "Mother?"

"Adam's right, Ben." Bea Sutter's eyes shone. "We did it. You and I, we did it."

"But—?"

Adam nodded soberly. "You're right; Eckhart and Genomex will be after you. Both of you, now that we've demonstrated that we can solve all the problems associated with being a mutant super-soldier." He gestured at Brennan and Shalimar. "They'll take you to our underground connections. You'll be set up with new identities, somewhere where Genomex will never find you."

"Adam." Bea looked around her. "All of you. I don't know how to thank you. Without each and every one, Ben and I wouldn't be here today. How can we ever repay you?"

"Join the underground," Adam returned promptly. "We're all of us going to need friends. Some day you'll be able to return the favor."


End file.
